Homes are becoming more wired and connected with the proliferation of computing devices such as desktops, tablets, entertainment systems, and portable communication devices. As these computing devices evolve, many different ways have been introduced to allow users to interact with computing devices, such as through mechanical devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, etc.), touch screens, motion, and gesture. Another way to interact with computing devices is through speech.
When using speech as an input, the device is commonly equipped with microphones to receive voice input and a speech recognition component that attempts to recognize the voice input. This voice input often competes with other audible sounds that might be received by the microphones, such as background voices, ambient noise, and perhaps even double talk. Double talk refers to a situation where sound from the near end talker reaches the microphones simultaneously with sound from the far end talker that is played out through the device loudspeakers. That is, sound played out of the loudspeaker (e.g., sound corresponding to signals received from the far end talker) echoes and reaches the microphones, along with sound from the near end talker.
These additional sounds concurrent with the speech input can negatively impact acoustic performance of the device, including both input and output of audio. Accordingly, there is a need for improved architectures of voice enabled devices that enhance acoustic performance.